Joseph, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Growers here do well with cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Joseph, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Joseph lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Joseph — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Joseph — the short answer
Joseph, Oregon: USDA zone 6a, about 146 days between hard freezes, across 580 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~146
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 580 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 6a is Joseph's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Joseph's 146-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Joseph
Each reading below is measured for Joseph itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredJoseph runs about 146 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredJoseph sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Joseph is in
Joseph sits in the Blue Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Joseph's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wallowa County.
What Grows in Joseph
Every plant below cleared Joseph's own zone 6a and its 146-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Joseph?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Joseph
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Joseph. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GTE - JOSEPH CENTRAL OFFICE - 5060-B01Underground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- DIAMOND D RANCH INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- PAULS'S CHEVRON SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- WALLOWA COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT #6Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- VALLEY BRONZE OF OREGONToxics Release Inventory · 1700 ft
- KILGORE'S AUTO PARTS & SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- ANTON, TONYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- GTE - LITTLE SHEEP CREEK MW (5230-B01)Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- USDA FS - BILLY MEADOWS GUARD STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- USDA FS - SLED SPRINGS WORK CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- WALLOWA LAKE LODGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- JOSEPH FOREST PRODUCTSSuperfund · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Joseph's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Joseph.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Joseph
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Joseph
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Joseph, Mining runs higher than the national average — 67 sites within ~10 miles of Joseph. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Joseph
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Joseph average
Your land is one point inside Joseph
Everything above resolves to Joseph as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 580 acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at city scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Joseph Average
Joseph Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Joseph
- ●One soil character for all of Joseph
- ●Frost dates read at Joseph's scale: May 12 to Oct 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Joseph's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Joseph
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Joseph, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Joseph averages can't show:
We read public map data around Joseph — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Joseph average
How we know this about Joseph
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Joseph’s own record; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Joseph
When does frost risk typically end in Joseph?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Joseph typically lands around May 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Jun 2.
When is the first frost in Joseph?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Joseph typically arrives around Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 21, so the watching starts about Sep 5 — about 146 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Joseph?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Joseph sees about 146 frost-free days — roughly May 12 through Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 2 to Sep 21, about 111 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Joseph?
The federal record around Joseph is a meaningful one — 113 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (67), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Joseph?
With about 146 frost-free days between hard freezes, Joseph rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 174 to 202 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 12 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Joseph's scale — its 6a band and its 146-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Joseph's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Joseph’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Joseph's own scale — its own ~146-day season between 28°F freezes, the 580 acres it covers and 113 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Joseph's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Joseph's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 12 and Oct 5 and the ~146-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 113 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Joseph, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Joseph's boundary and the 580 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~146-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Joseph's own centroid, the Blue MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Joseph's 580 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wallowa County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wallowa County
- The growing challenges every Oregon grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Oregon
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Wallowa County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Joseph's 580 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Joseph you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 580 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Joseph-wide figureread your own land →
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